Back in the Netherlands, I study in a town called Maastricht. Maastricht is a beautiful, old city with a lot of interesting sights.
Flikken Maastricht is a police series which is set in Maastricht and shows the most beautiful spots in a ‘criminal’ atmosphere. It is originally based on a Belgian police series and broadcasted on public television. The day after the television broadcast, you can watch the episode on the website of public television (www.uitzendinggemist.nl). Every week a have to watch the newest episode so you can safely say that I’m addicted.
But why? It’s quite strange that I like this particular television series because I don’t really watch television that often and I almost never watch a television series. I never watched another police series. Another reason why I can’t explain my addiction is the level of reality in the series. Because I live in Maastricht, I see a lot of flaws in the story in order to make it look good. For example, if the ride through one street, the next shot can be in a completely different part of the town. An explanation for these goofs could be the avoidance of the less beautiful parts of town. What’s more, the level of acting isn’t always of a high standard. It’s not annoying but some characters ‘overact’.
Because the series is Dutch-spoken, Flikken Maastricht is not internationally known. The script, though can be regarded as quite international; all episodes follow a certain script and end with a cliffhanger. A week later, we first see what happened the week before.
On the whole, I think that a series like Flikken Maastricht offers some good relaxation for the mind. After a day of work, it is good to relax with a drink and a nice episode of your favorite series.
Relevant links (in English):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flikken_Maastricht
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0920448/
http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-19398
Monday, December 21, 2009
Media diary; wasting time behind my laptop?
In the five days that I recorded my media use, I noticed that I spent more time on the internet as thought before. Especially on the weekends, the average time spent behind my laptop was around eight hours. During the week, it was a bit less, around five hours.
Why so much? Because it’s easy to get lost on the internet. I often start with a news website and end up clicking further because I want to know more about a certain subject. Since I moved to Finland, I gave up my subscription to a dutch newspaper and nowadays, I check their website almost every day (www.nrc.nl). I don’t consider this a waste of time because it helps me to stay in contact with the latest developments in the world.
Searching for news isn’t the only thing I do on the internet. Skype helps me to stay in contact with my family and girlfriend. During my personal media diary period, I used skype every day. On some days over two hours and other days around thirty minutes. Before I came here, I never used skype and I just bought the laptop with webcam before arrival in Finland. When I go back, I will basically stop using skype for some time because I am close to my family again.
Other things I did on my laptop quite often (a bit too much, if you ask me) were checking email, facebook and some internet-for a, especially the one from my student cycling association in Maastricht (www.dm-maastricht.nl). I also watched television on it. On www.uitzendinggemist.nl, it is possible to watch public television programmes on the internet. I used this function for about an hour per day.
I brought my laptop to the library once during those five days but I used the computers that are already in the library more often. I used them to check optima, email and other study-related stuff. The time spent on those computers was much shorter than on my own laptop, mostly around 15 minutes. When I used the computers in the library, I both used those that are in the cafeteria and those that are in the computer room. The time I spent on the computers in the café was definitely shorter.
Other places I used the internet were at some friends places. I watched youtube video’s with my roommate for about an hour. We used his laptop for this because he has a good place to sit down for those ‘silly’ things.
I would have used my laptop even more often when I played some games but I decided to stop this a few years ago after playing Need for speed-underground for hours. I thought stopping with games would deliver me a lot more free-time which I could spent sporting etcetera but it worked out that I just use the internet more often. During the five days I only made time to read a ‘real’ book once for a few hours.
Why so much? Because it’s easy to get lost on the internet. I often start with a news website and end up clicking further because I want to know more about a certain subject. Since I moved to Finland, I gave up my subscription to a dutch newspaper and nowadays, I check their website almost every day (www.nrc.nl). I don’t consider this a waste of time because it helps me to stay in contact with the latest developments in the world.
Searching for news isn’t the only thing I do on the internet. Skype helps me to stay in contact with my family and girlfriend. During my personal media diary period, I used skype every day. On some days over two hours and other days around thirty minutes. Before I came here, I never used skype and I just bought the laptop with webcam before arrival in Finland. When I go back, I will basically stop using skype for some time because I am close to my family again.
Other things I did on my laptop quite often (a bit too much, if you ask me) were checking email, facebook and some internet-for a, especially the one from my student cycling association in Maastricht (www.dm-maastricht.nl). I also watched television on it. On www.uitzendinggemist.nl, it is possible to watch public television programmes on the internet. I used this function for about an hour per day.
I brought my laptop to the library once during those five days but I used the computers that are already in the library more often. I used them to check optima, email and other study-related stuff. The time spent on those computers was much shorter than on my own laptop, mostly around 15 minutes. When I used the computers in the library, I both used those that are in the cafeteria and those that are in the computer room. The time I spent on the computers in the café was definitely shorter.
Other places I used the internet were at some friends places. I watched youtube video’s with my roommate for about an hour. We used his laptop for this because he has a good place to sit down for those ‘silly’ things.
I would have used my laptop even more often when I played some games but I decided to stop this a few years ago after playing Need for speed-underground for hours. I thought stopping with games would deliver me a lot more free-time which I could spent sporting etcetera but it worked out that I just use the internet more often. During the five days I only made time to read a ‘real’ book once for a few hours.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)